Who is Jo Bentdal?
By Lars Elton
Jo Bentdal is a type of artist who works slow and laborious. It is a trait giving good results. As an artist he is well aware of photography's unique position as a qualitative recording medium for indexical observation of reality´s many aspects. But even if his images are a representation of what we recognize from the physical world, what he delivers is still quite distant from the documenting observations of a photojournalist or street photographer. He does not stop at registering. He charges his motifs with meaning. His understanding of architecture and interiors converts iconic building to scenes of basic, and thus complex, human states and emotions.
In his latest project he has narrowed the scope and concentrated on one, strongly defined theme. In the series of portraits of 13 to 15 year old girls, in the middle of puberty tumultuous transition phase, he reaches a new level. The eleven girls in the series are caught in the same, simple lighting. Bodies glow in a darkened room where the surroundings are only suggested. This concentrates the viewer's attention on the girls' appearance, their expression, hairstyle and clothing. They confront us with a direct gaze, and they stand out as serious and thoughtful individuals.
What is interesting is that, as the viewer's gaze rests on the girls, they transform into something else. The girls are the expression of a collective state. Even if they do come forward with their individual characteristics, they are representatives of something larger and universally human.
Behind the girls' self-confident posturing there is a vulnerability that will strike any individual viewer who´s humanity is intact. The photograps find their place in an art historical context, and the series as a whole makes the images objects of meditation. They are a window towards something larger than the individual subjects. The series serves as a starting point for philosophical musings and open up unexpected thoughts tied to life's big themes. This way the portraits become iconic - if not pure icons?
- Lars Elton
Lars Elton is a freelance journalist, critic and editor. He is an art and architecture critic in the Norwegian newspapers Dagsavisen and VG and writes about art and culture related topics in a wide variety of publications. lars@elton.no
Selected Exhibitions:
Kulschi Becheer, solo exibition, Kolonihagen, Oslo 2010
Mingla Ba, studio exhibition, Oslo 2011
Ta Legal, studio exhibition, Oslo 2012
Ta Legal, Galleri A, group exhibition, Oslo 2012
Intermissions, studio exhibition, Oslo 2013
Intermissions, Vulkan, solo exhibition, Oslo 2013
Intermissions, group exhibition, Galleri A, Oslo 2013
Common Sensibility, studio exhibition, Oslo 2015
Common Sensibility, online exhibition Lens Culture, 2015
Common Sensibility/Intermissions, group exhibition, Qvale Galleri, Oslo 2015
The Norwegian National Annual Art Exhibition (Høstutstillingen, Statens kunstutstilling), Oslo 2015*
The Danish Artists Autumn Exhibition, Copenhagen 2015*
Common Sensibility, Shoot Gallery, solo exhibition, Oslo 2016
Nordic Light International Festival of Photography 2016
Interfaces, Shoot Gallery, 2 week event, Oslo 2017
Aipad, Assosiation of International Photography Art Dealers, Art Fair, Pier 94, New York 2017
* juried exhibitions
Purchased by Strays Foundation, the DNB Art Collection, the Art in Schools foundation - and private collectors
1 of 2 next